All We Can Do Is Run!
by ShutUpAndPaddle
Summary: The team are called out to a DB, they have a surprise waiting for them by a notorious gang. This is only a short story, and the first part of many more stories to come.
1. Chapter 1

**All We Can Do Is Run**

**Chapter 1**

The day started out like any other Tuesday morning. Horatio's alarm went off at around 4.45, he got up and walked down to the kitchen to fix himself a coffee. He sat at the table with the coffee still half asleep. He stared down at the marble worktops while he rubbed his tired brow, wishing he could just go back to bed. After he finished his coffee he strolled up stairs and pulled on his sweatpants and an old t-shirt. He stepped outside for his morning run along the beach. The sun wasn't up yet and the beach was lit with moonlight, he felt the fresh breeze kiss his skin and took deep breaths of the sea air. Horatio enjoyed jogging at that time of the morning; it was calm, quiet and just the right temperature to go running. He returned back to his house at about 5.45 where he took his morning shower. He towel dried himself and slipped on his boxers. He brushed his teeth and then wandered over to his wardrobe pulled out a suit and shirt and popped them on to his already made bed. He walked into his en-suite and dried his hair with his towel then threw the towel into the washing bin.

'_I wonder what today could bring, these days with Zoë around I never know what is going to happen. She does certainly liven the place up.'_ Horatio thought to himself as he strolled back into his room where he picked up his trousers, he slipped them on and zipped them up. He then placed his shirt on and sprayed his deodorant and buttoned his shirt up and put the cuff-links in. Those particular cuff-links always reminded him of Ray Jr. as he picked them out for Horatio.

'_I do miss him, I must ring Yelina at some point to arrange a catch up.'_ Horatio thought to himself as he tucked his shirt in and did his belt up. He smiled as he clipped them on remembering the time Ray Jr pointed to them in the shop window. He went back into his en-suite and sorted his wild floppy hair out. He put his badge, ID and gun holster on his belt and then proceeded down the stairs. He was definitely more awake than he had been before his coffee, his outlook on the day was also a lot more positive. He walked through the hall and picked up his gun and keys from the table that sat by the front door.

He walked out down his drive and jumped into his black Porsche Cayenne S and drove to work, he dropped it off in the Miami-Dade employee car park and went straight up to his office.

The rest of the team turned up, Zoë was early, like usual. Eric was slightly late after having a night out, but nothing out of the ordinary. Horatio sat back in his chair with 7 different files sprawled across the desk in separate piles in order of most urgent. He sat back and just stared at them with a sigh. His eyes then trained in on something he'd not seen, there was a fresh cup of coffee on his desk. He frowned mildly at it and then leant forwards and took hold of it. He brought it closer and it was still very warm. '_Who put that on my desk? That's never happened before._' Horatio thought to himself as he cautiously brought it up to his lips and took a sip. '_Not that I have a complaint; that is a good cup of coffee. Who was it? Zoë? Why would Zoë put a cup of coffee on my desk? It wasn't her, I'm sure of that. I don't know, perhaps Frank put it there and forgot about it when handing me more files? It's his loss._' Horatio thought to himself and then pulled out his phone as it began to ring.

"Lieutenant Caine." He asked before he took another sip of the rich coffee.

"Hi H, it's Frank. We've got a DB in an abandoned car park on Biscayne Blvd." Horatio listened to Franks thick Texan accent and sighed silently, all he wanted was to sit back for more than a second and enjoy a free cup of good coffee.

"We'll be right there Frank." They hung up before Horatio downed the coffee to give him an energy boost. Horatio then walked through the lab and grabbed Eric, Ryan and Zoë. They each took their own hummers; they pulled up into the old decrepit car park and parked up next to each other. The sun was up and the day was just getting hotter. Ryan got to work with the camera and snapped pictures of the evidence while Eric then picked up and bagged the evidence once Ryan had pictured it. Zoë also collected and processed but kept herself to herself to concentrate fully on the task at hand.

"H, we've got hundreds of bullet casings, it's going to take a long time to process." Ryan called over to Horatio as he glanced around and studied the many bullet casings around the floor.

"Patience is a virtue, the more casings there are, the more chance we've got of catching the killers." He said firmly as he took his sunglasses off and looked down at the body. He began to fiddle with his sunglasses in his right hand while he placed his left on his hip. He glanced up to Zoë a few times. '_Was it her that left the coffee?'_ He asked as he watched her process.

"Hey, don't touch my stuff, ask first; there's important things in that and if you break anything your job will be the next thing to break." Zoë growled at one of the officers who was just about to move her kit and evidence with heavy hands. Horatio couldn't help but secretly smile. '_It definitely wasn't her.'_ Horatio thought to himself when he sat her get up and walk over to the officer who began to apologise profusely. Horatio then received a call and quickly pulled his phone from his pocket.

"Caine."

"Hi Horatio, I'm stuck in stand-still traffic, it doesn't look like I'm going anywhere soon, I'm going to take the next turning off and find another route, if we ever get moving." Alexx sighed on the phone.

"Okay Alexx, thank you for letting me know." Horatio replied as he continued to watch Zoë talk with the officer, it was clear that she didn't like her stuff being touched and that she didn't like it when he tried to apologise by placing his hand on her arm.

"I'll be there soon Horatio, bye." They hung up and Horatio quickly walked over to Zoë and the officer when he saw Zoë becoming defensive after the officer had touched her.

"Is there a problem here?" Horatio asked warmly as he looked from Zoë to the officer.

"I'm fine." Zoë replied as she turned around and picked her kit up to walk away.

"I'm sorry Lieutenant, but I don't know what I did wrong." The young officer pleaded him when Horatio turned his gaze upon him after watching Zoë walk away.

"Just keep your hands to yourself in future and you won't have a problem." Horatio replied as he looked down. The officer nodded silently and then walked away and glanced over to Zoë as he headed towards his patrol car.

"Alexx is stuck in traffic, she may take a while getting here." Horatio announced to the team once he'd turned to them. He then turned back to see Zoë beside the body and watched her a little more. '_Why do I keep watching her?'_ Horatio thought to himself as he turned his gaze towards the floor and pressed his lips together. Zoë had crouched down to get a better look at the floor around the victim. The victim's shirt was partially unbuttoned and Zoë caught a glimpse of a tattoo.

"Horatio, there's a tattoo on this guy's chest, it looks like it could be a gang symbol." She said as she was looking at him and gestured for him to approach. Horatio nodded and then walked over to her with his hands on his hips. Horatio crouched down beside her and had a look while she studied Horatio's intense eyes as they studied the tattoo.

"That's the Mala Noche, Zoë. They're notorious criminals that work around Miami." Horatio stood up and placed his hands on his hips and looked over to Eric and Ryan.

"Gentlemen, we're dealing with the Mala Noche and possible rival gangs here." Horatio announced and both stood up and began to walk over to Horatio and the body. A very loud explosion was heard the team instantly turned around to see what it was as Horatio quickly pulled Zoë up and closer to him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

An explosion had erupted as Horatio's grip tightened on Zoë's arm, ready to drag her to safety if needed. The teams' eyes were set on Zoë's hummer which was now on fire and over turned. She had parked it over a drain which had an explosive in. Horatio loosened his grip on Zoë's arm as he realised that they weren't anywhere near the explosion. Their eyes widened as they all realised that this was a setup, most likely by the Mala Noche. A gun shot was then heard and each of their hearts began to beat wildly.

"Get down! It's a trap!" Horatio shouted at the team as he took hold of Zoë's arm again just as gun shots began to fire from everywhere. They sprinted back out of the abandoned car park and over to their hummers. Eric managed to get behind one of his car doors and Ryan did the same to his. They pulled out their guns and began looking for the shooters. Zoë and Horatio got behind one of Horatio's hummer doors. They also began looking for the shooters, but the shooters couldn't be seen. The police officers ran in and began firing anywhere they could. 3 officers were shot down instantly. Zoë had spotted a shooter in the bushes behind the car park and took aim. She managed to shoot him through the head, rendering him dead immediately. More back up arrived and began to take aim, slowly taking out the gang members. The Mala Noche gun men began firing more rapidly and anywhere they could. Zoë jerked back as if she'd been hurt but continued to fire when she could. Horatio had noticed and put his gun away.

"Get in the hummers! All we can do is run!" Horatio shouted not wanting any of his team to become a casualty or worse. He literally lifted Zoe and pushed her into the hummer where she quickly scrambled over the drivers' seat and into the passenger seat while she put her gun away. Eric and Ryan jumped into their hummers and reversed out of the parking lot.

"You okay?!" Horatio questioned quickly and frantically as he sat in the seat and closed his door.

"Yeah!" She said as she looked over to him as he put the hummer into gear. Zoë sorted her gun out while Horatio reversed back to line up with the back-up cars and they jumped out. Eric and Ryan had already jumped out and were in position. Zoë jumped out just as more back-up arrived and the Mala Noche gang members began to show themselves a little more from the adrenaline rush they were getting from it all, they were beginning to make mistakes. The Mala Noche were all fired upon by a growing police force. The shooting ceased a few minutes later.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The Mala Noche gang members involved had been eliminated. A swat team was called in to help patrol the place to make sure that there was no more Mala Noche hiding or running away.

Alexx then turned up in her van and got out shocked by the amount of police cars and began to feel very confused. She got out and walked over to Horatio who was on the phone to Frank, he was clearly on edge and not happy about something. When Horatio hung up Alexx questioned him with her hands on her hips, matching Horatio's stance.

"What's gone on here?" She said with wide eyes as she looked around and saw many bodies in and around the car park.

"This was a trap set up by the Mala Noche." Horatio said looking down at the ground and briefly glanced at Alexx. He removed his right hand from his hip and pulled his sunglasses from his neck and began to fiddle with them as he concentrated on the floor down beside Alexx.

"Was anyone hurt?" Alexx asked concerned as she tilted her head at him, trying to make eye contact with him. Horatio glanced up at her and gave her the satisfactory eye contact she wanted before he looked back down.

"There's been a few fatalities on the Police front." Horatio said as he sighed and then looked over to the deceased officers. 4 ambulances then arrived. Horatio quickly looked back to Alexx to see her very shocked frown as she observed the surroundings, she didn't want to have to work on her own people. All 3 police officers were pronounced dead at the scene, as was the 8 Mala Noche gang members. Eric, Ryan and Zoë had begun working on the new crime scene. Zoë looked over the bodies and walked over to Horatio who was stood in the middle of the car park observing everything.

"The gang members all seem to be between ages 16-19 and all have fresh tattoos. I'm thinking that they were new gang members, perhaps this was an initiation test?" Zoë asked, needing guidance on the case as she'd never dealt with such a ruthless gang before. Horatio looked up at her and held eye contact for more than a second before he turned his gaze back to the bodies that lay before them. She watched him think to himself for a moment and allowed him to mull it over while she glanced around, taking in everything she could.

"It wasn't an initiation otherwise they wouldn't have the tattoos." Horatio said as he looked up to her from the ground. She looked back to Horatio with a mild frown and placed her hands on her hips.

"Perhaps it was their first 'mission' then?" Zoë asked curiously as she tilted her head and let her eyes wander over his face to see a grave expression appearing as his eyes focused intensely on the top of her chest.

"Yeah… Zoë, you're bleeding, have you been shot?" Horatio asked as his intense gaze strengthened on the upper left of her chest.

"What? No, I haven't." She said very confused as she looked down and saw a blood stain on her light blue shirt. She looked at it for a moment and blinked a few times, wondering if it was her blood. Horatio reached up to check if it was her blood but couldn't touch her. She quickly stepped away and reached up herself.

"I'm sorry, Zoë." Horatio apologised quietly, he knew he'd got too close for her own comfort. She unbuttoned the two buttons at the top of her shirt to reveal the Kevlar vest and saw that the vest itself had blood on so they knew it was her blood. Horatio took another step forwards and placed his hand on her upper arm and looked up and over to the ambulances.

"Can we get some paramedics here please?" Horatio shouted. Zoë put her right hand down the top of the Kevlar and felt the bullet, she pulled it out with showed it to Horatio who immediately noticed blood on her hand rather than the bullet.

"How on Earth didn't you feel that? Was it deep?" Horatio asked running a hand through his hair as he began to worry about her. He then glanced back to the paramedics. "We need a paramedic over here now!" Horatio shouted again before he turned back to Zoë.

"Relax Horatio; it's only scratched me, I'm fine. The Kevlar did its job." Zoë said holding the bullet in her gloved hand. She placed it in an evidence bag as two paramedics came running over.

"She's been shot." Horatio said worried that it was actually a lot worse than Zoë was admitting.

"It's only a scratch, he's over reacting." She said calmly with a smile.

"We should check you over anyway, ma'am." A paramedic said as they took her by the arm. She quickly pulled her arm from the older males grip and.

"I'm fine." She said firmly as she glared up at him, she hated being man-handled by anyone, let alone a stranger.

"Sweetheart, please get checked out. I won't allow you to work if you're not checked out." Horatio said warmly as he placed his hand bravely on her upper arm as she looked over to him with her glare softening. She exhaled and then nodded at him. He then took a light hold of her arm and walked with her over to the ambulance. He let go of her and allowed the paramedics to check her out while he gave her some space. They checked over the wound and it was just a scratch, there was quite a bit of blood, but that was because her heart was beating faster and harder from the adrenaline rush. They placed some gauze and a bandage on and let her go. She buttoned up her shirt and walked over to Horatio with a 'I told you so' expression while she placed her hands on her hips. He looked up at her and watched her walk closer.

"See, it was nothing." She said cheekily as she stood beside him and looked up at him.

"Well, I had to make sure." He said with a small smile as he looked into her bright eyes before looking back down to the floor.

"I need to get back to work now." She said with a wide smile and walked over to Ryan and Eric who had heard the whole thing.

"You okay?" Eric asked as he stood and moved closer to her.

"Yep, I'm all good." She said with a smile as she crouched down and began to bag the rounds that Ryan had already photographed.

"What possessed you to put your Kevlar on? None of us had it on." Eric asked curiously as he crouched down beside her, noticing that she was allowing him to be closer than she had before.

"I don't know, I just had a feeling this morning. It was quite weird actually, but I'm glad I did! It could have been a whole lot worse." She said as she concentrated on processing the scene. Once it was all processed, they headed back to the lab. They traced the hit back to some Mala Noche gang members which were higher up the chain. The original dead body was there as a ploy, designed to get the team right into the middle of the trap. The team didn't really finish until 9 at night when the bullet rounds had all been analysed and all evidence had been looked at. They traced it back to a member who had connections everywhere. He has pretty high up connections, to people who really had it in for Horatio and his team.

XXXXXXXX

Eric and Ryan were discussing something in the AV lab when Zoë walked in.

"Hi guys, what are you talking about?" She asked curiously with a bright smile. Both Eric and Ryan looked over to her with smiles. Ryan's smile was a little wider and even slightly dreamy as he gazed at her.

"Hi Zoë, we're going to go for a Chinese, do you want to join us?" Ryan asked warmly with a big smile. Eric looked to him and mildly frowned, he was being over enthusiastic, it was clear he really wanted Zoë there, but she didn't even seem fazed.

"Sure, let me change my shirt, and I'll meet you guys in the lobby?" Zoë said with a gentle smile as she glanced to Eric.

"In 10 minutes?" Eric asked.

"Sure, see you then." Zoë walked out and went through to the locker room where she changed her shirt and let her hair down. Eric and Ryan were walking to the lobby to meet her when they saw Horatio walking to his office.

"Hey H! We're going for a Chinese with Zoë, if you want to join us?" Eric called warmly and Horatio stopped to look over to them.

"Gentlemen, thank you. But I've got paperwork to fill out, thank you for the offer though." Horatio said softly as he glanced to the floor. '_Zoë's going as well? I guess I could go along so we can all relax. I do need to relax. I never know, I might have a good time, I've never been out with them properly or for long, certainly not for a meal.'_ Horatio thought to himself.

"Okay H, we'll see you tomorrow." Eric said with a nod of his head. Horatio turned around and began to walk back to his office. '_I'll leave them too it, why would they want their old boss there anyway? Zoë would probably want to spend some time with people of her age anyway, it's not like I'm the life of a party.'_ Horatio thought to himself. '_No, I will go. I need a change from doing work all night.'_ He thought and exhaled, he then stopped again and turned around again with a mild frown.

"Actually, I think I will join you for that Chinese."

"Great, see you in the Lobby in about 5 minutes then?" Eric answered. Horatio nodded and went to sort his desk out with his secret smile. He left the paper work there for tomorrow morning and went to meet the team back in the Lobby.

They went out for a Chinese and they all enjoyed the night.


End file.
